Continuity mistake: When Nick Nolte confronts his daughter in her bedroom about meeting with Robert De Niro, as the camera angle switches from Nolte's face to his daughter's face, his hand over her mouth changes positions.
Cape Fear (1991)
Ending / spoiler
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Juliette Lewis
Cady cheese wires Graciella...then disguised as her blows Claude Kersek away with his own pistol before leaving Sam to slip on Claude's guts as he comes in (leaving him drenched in gore). Cady then follows the Bowden family onto their boat (by strapping himself underneath their car with a belt). He eventually grabs and ties up Sam and pockets Claude's gun. Danielle sprays lighter fluid all over Cady as he's lighting up a cigar and sets him ablaze. Cady leaps overboard to put out the flames, and manages to clamber back on board by grasping hold of the severed anchor rope (his vision still intact despite having been severely burned in the face). He makes Sam admit that he held back evidence that the victim was promiscus and that he violated his oaths when it came to defending Cady, who by now is so incensed by knowing what he all along assumed that he then tries to rape his wife and daughter, but a storm comes in and knocks the boat around which gives Leigh & Danielle the opportunity to jump off the boat and espace. When Cady tries to attack and starts shooting at Sam with his stolen gun, Sam manages to wrestle the gun out of his hand before eventually hand cuffing Cady's leg to a post. The boat then crashs into a rock, which destroys it. Cady & Sam survive. On shore, Sam tries to kill Cady with a large rock, but the water washes Cady out towards the sea and away from shore where he eventually drowns or does he?
Big Evil
More mistakes in Cape FearMore quotes from Cape Fear
Trivia: The officer that talks to Sam is played by Robert Mitchum who was the original Max Cady and the lawyer that Max hires is Gregory Peck who played the original Sam Bowden.
Question: The whole basis of the film is that Max is suddenly aware of hidden evidence that impacted his sentencing. However, his lawyer claims he wouldn't have known and hurried the case to keep it hidden. The question remains: how did Max find out about the evidence while in prison?
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Answer: As I remember it, Sam Bowden, Max's lawyer, knew his client was a rapist. He did not want Max to go free, so he buried the evidence that could have exonerated him. At that time, Max was illiterate, and Bowden assumed he'd never know about the hidden information. While in prison, Max, who was actually highly intelligent, learned how to read and also studied law. He later mounted his own unsuccessful appeals, which presumably gave him access to all previous evidence.
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